Rev9
by minmb82
Summary: Rev9


**Chapter 9**

_Kaista, 4 Hiraa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Tuesday, 14 August 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Kaista, 4 Hiraa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_Karsa Medical Annex, Karsa, Karis_

It was a feeble ray of light in what had been a very dark two days.

With a wan smile, Jason took the hand of a just-awoken Aya, who was in a bed in the Medical Annex after undergoing the transition. As Cybi predicted, her transition had been without any complications, mainly since the virus disabled her immune system and prevented it from attacking her body as the transition ran its course. It was Dahnai's immune system attacking her liver that had damaged it when she was changed, but this new iteration of the Generation virus got around that.

It was the only real good news in all this. Right now, the Medical Service didn't have the beds or the resources to babysit every Karinne citizen that was going through what Aya had just finished. Most of them were being told to stay home, stay in bed, and just sleep through it. They simply didn't have the doctors and nurses to assign every transitioning citizen medical assistance. But there was observation there. Every citizen suffering through this at home had a maintenance bionoid being controlled by that continent's CBIM, keeping watch over them and doing checks on them to ensure that they were suffering no complications. If one of them was showing any sign of complication at all, a nurse or doctor was dispatched to the residence to evaluate the patient to determine if they needed to be taken to a clinic or annex. The system had been hastily thrown together by Songa and the CBIMs, but Jason had to admit, so far it was working fairly well. They had the bionoids to do it, pulling virtually every bionoid in the entire inventory, both military and civilian, and sending them out. Even Jason's own personal home bionoid was pulling observation duty, watching over Yeri as she rested at home and underwent the transition. Cyra couldn't merge to his bionoid, but its onboard AI was developed enough to be able to handle the task of observing Yeri without being guided by someone else. All it had to do was monitor Yeri's vital signs, taking them every ten minutes, and if they drifted out of the safe zone, it would notify the Medical Service.

Jason hated that. He hated the idea that people that may be scared or anxious over what was happening had no one there to soothe them, to hold their hand…but there was just nobody available. He'd recorded an explanation to everyone and did his best to be as supportive and reassuring as he could, but that was no substitution for having someone there to hold a hand and assure them it was going to be alright.

Aya wasn't the first to awaken from the transition. The first had been a Terran, Dana Prescott, who represented the greatest danger in all this in that she had not been a telepath before she went to sleep, and was one when she woke up. When her telepathy expressed, she represented a very real potential danger to everyone around her. A neophyte telepath, keyed up from fear and anxiety, could be extremely dangerous for another telepath to subdue if she lost control and lashed out. Aya looked up at Jason calmly, then blinked and rose up and sat up in the bed. _I feel…not different at all,_ she observed. _But I look at you, and I _know_. I understand now._

_ Welcome to the family, Aya. Our rapidly growing little family,_ he sent with dark, nearly depressed humor. _Rapidly growing_ was the mother of all understatements. As it stood now, 27, 463 Karinnes had contracted the virus and begun transition, and Songa was no closer to figuring out how the virus was being transmitted or how it was evading their scanners than she'd been two days ago. Those affected represented all ten races susceptible to the virus, and some of them had already completed the transition and were now full Generations. They were completely healthy, according to Songa, the transition had done then no harm, but they were just as much Generations as Jason was.

And that was the hardest part of all this to fathom, that there were now Shio, Keelo, Strath, Aridai, Muri, Subrian, Rathii, and Sha'i-ree Generations. Despite the Shio having green blood, despite the Keelo having venomous fangs, despite the Aridai having four fingers, they were similar enough genetically to Faey for the virus to affect them. Jason had met with the two Sha'i-ree that had been changed, both female, but one of them he already knew. It was Eliara, who worked in Kumi's office…and had probably contracted the virus from Kumi, who contracted it from Jason.

_I'm not nearly as upset at this as you are, Jason,_ Aya admitted. _With us being Generations, the Imperial Guard can now be much more effective in the discharge of our duties. As soon as we master our new abilities, we will be ready._

That was a true statement both on Karis and on Draconis. Much as Jason had infected everyone around him, Dahnai had infected virtually the entire Imperial Palace, including the entirety of the Imperial Guard that worked within it. And in a bit of karmic justice, she also infected Maer and his wife, who had been in the palace during the window when Dahnai was contagious. That meant that she and Maer's sisters wouldn't have to lie to him or keep secrets from him anymore.

And because of that, the Imperial Palace had let it leak to the public that the Imperial Family had all been infected, as had most of the _siann_…including _Yila_. Dahnai had infected every noble that attended court, and they infected the rest of their houses when they went home. Once Faey became Generations in the Imperium, they would know the instant they looked at Dahnai that she was one too. So, she was more or less forced to reveal her secret…just concealing it in the virus that was infecting others.

_ I have instructors lined up for you,_ he told her. _But some of it you won't really need to learn. Once you have a little time for your mind to fully settle in and open up your bandwidth, you'll be able to commune without any real training. That's instinctive, it's a genetic memory programmed into us._

_ But we don't know if us _new_ Generations have that knowledge, Jason. One of the thing we'll be doing is helping your people learn if we're any different from you, and how you can best go about teaching us._

_ I can look at you and know you're a Generation, Aya,_ he told her. _If that's the same, I think everything else will be._

_ Aya dear, you're free to go,_ a rather harried Songa sent from down the hall.

_I'm not going anywhere,_ she replied, sliding her legs off the bed and standing up, displaying to Jason the full glory of her nude body. Though she was middle age, Aya was the epitome of an Imperial Guard, a body of sculpted muscle and not even the tiniest bit of fat anywhere it wasn't supposed to be. _Jason is being escorted everywhere he goes until things settle down, just in case. And since I'm the only guard not in a hospital bed at the moment, I'll be providing that security._

_ Mai and Dera are already up and out,_ Jason told her. _Dera felt that leaving the strip unprotected was the bigger issue and ordered Mai to return with her to the strip. She felt I was safe enough here in the annex._

_ She made the right choice,_ Aya decided as she started arranging her armor, preparing to put it on.

After Aya got her armor on, Jason returned to the situation room that Songa was using to try to stop the virus. He stayed out of the way as doctors and Kimdori huddled around holodisplays or studied test results, as they tried to find some way to stop the virus…though at this point, Songa had made it somewhat clear that stopping the virus may be pointless. Songa herself had just completed the transition four hours ago—she too was infected by Jason—and had spent nearly half of it doggedly staying at her desk in the room, trying to isolate the virus. Only when the virus went to work on her brain did she get put into a bed to sleep through the last of it.

They had enough information to understand how the virus worked. The first thing it did was shut down the immune system, and once that was done, it used the converted cells of the immune system to spread the virus throughout the body. It altered the antibody-producing parts of the body, the red blood cells, and the cells in the bone marrow first, mainly because those places were where the immune system was concentrated, and from there, it attacked the rest of the body all at once. Exactly how that happened was random, it seemed, but it happened swiftly once the glands and bone marrow was converted, because by that point the virus was being mass produced by the body. But, when the virus invaded the brain, it triggered an autonomic response in the host that caused them to fall asleep—go into a coma was a better description—and they slept through the majority of the rest of the process. When they woke up, they were Generations. Songa had stayed in the situation room working even as the virus was changing her, right up until the virus entered her brain and triggered the coma-like state, all but shutting the brain down while the virus did the work of altering it to make her a Generation.

For a couple of hours he sat or stood off to the side and listened as the doctors and scientists worked feverishly, and then he went out into the annex to visit those in transition. These were the ones whose vital signs fluctuated enough for them to be brought in to be observed, and they represented all ten races that the virus could affect. Most of them were asleep, but those who were not, he spent a few minutes with them, trying to allay any fears, holding hands, and doing his best to reassure them that everything was going to be alright.

He just wished he could hold the hands of those who were laying in bed at home.

He returned to the situation room after doing his rounds and found that nothing had changed, so he went back to sitting on the edge and watching, as well as getting updates. Just in the time he was out visiting people, 183 new cases had been reported. None of his other friends had awakened yet, but Kaera from the guard had awakened while he was out, and Aya had her report to the situation room in armor so she could help guard Jason. Siyhaa had sent him a report informing him that she'd completed her work in locking out the biogenic network's more sensitive areas from the new Generations, and Cybi and Cynna had reported that the effort to install biometric locks on all non-imprint gestalts had begun. Those locks would only allow those who had access to the gestalt to use it.

The planet was still quarantined, but it had been expanded to include the rest of the house's holdings. That was because there were cases on nearly all Karinne colonies and holdings, including being rampant throughout the KMS. Dellin had been infected, as had Palla, Jeya, and dozens and dozens of his best ship captains. Mikano had been infected. _Kei _had been infected, as well as most of her unit of Imperial Marines. It seemed that about the only part of the house that hadn't been exposed were members of the KES who were out on exploration missions and KMS vessels who had been on extended deployment.

It was reaching the point where Jason may have to make the decision to which Zaa alluded a couple of days ago. If the virus was already spread across the house, he very well may have to allow those few parts of the house that _hadn't_ been infected to be exposed to the virus, if only because the crews on those ships would never be able to return home if he didn't. And that decision…he felt like that was the last decision he wanted to make. To have it happen by accident was one thing, but to make the deliberate decision to create new Generations…that felt like he was going too far. But he may not have a choice. Those crew members had lives on Karis, they had families, and never allowing them to come home would be the epitome of cruelty.

The status report that Dahnai sent him was no more optimistic. The virus had indeed gotten off of Draconis because of the traveling nobles, and there were now cases on 77 planets or stations, with 118,953 reported cases. From the look of it, and from the predictions of Cybi and Zaa, there was no stopping the virus in the Imperium.

It was very nearly reaching a point where they may be looking at the possibility that the _entire Faey race_ may become Generations. Songa estimated that if they couldn't stop the virus within 20 days, then they would cross a point of no return for the Imperium where the entire population would be infected.

If that happened…he didn't know what he was going to do. He really didn't.

The news from Terra, at least, had been cautiously optimistic. So far, no cases had been detected, but that in no way meant that they were out of the woods yet. Both Jason and Dahnai had visited Terra within the last month, and if they were contagious when they did so, then they could have spread the virus onto the planet. But if the virus did make its way there, it wasn't getting off the planet. Terra was completely quarantined right now, with nothing being allowed on or off the planet.

"Jason, we have something," Songa called, motioning towards him.

He got up and went over to the holodisplay where she, two other doctors, and three Kimdori were standing. One of them was Kereth, Miaari's son who was her clan's Elder when it came to medical matters.

"What is it, dear?" he asked, joining them.

"We've finally got some data from the main Medical Service, and it's gotten more complicated. There are _two_ strains of the virus." Two different squiggly lines were projected over the display, which Jason assumed were images of the viral structures. At casual glance, they both looked the same. But when he looked very closely, he could see tiny variations between the two. "The one in the Imperium is different from the one here. The one there is only affecting Faey, so it must be the original strain. The one here is the mutated strain. That suggests that the virus originated from Dahnai, and when she passed it to you, it mutated into the new strain."

"I don't know much about this, dear. What does that mean in simple terms?"

"It means, cousin, that a cure that we discover for one virus may not work for the other," Kereth told him. "Much like strains of your Terran influenza can resist vaccines made for other strains, the other strain of this virus may not be affected by an antiviral agent or vaccine made for this strain."

Songa nodded. "But we still have no idea why our medical scanners can't detect it, or how it's being transmitted."

"Any headway on a vaccine for it?"

She shook her head. "If it were a normal virus, we'd have one by now. But this virus attacks the immune system that a vaccine is meant to teach it how to kill, which is making it extremely hard to come up with a vaccine. All attempts to create an antiviral agent have also failed. Even the most generic antiviral does nothing to this virus."

"It has resisted everything we've tried so far," Kereth added. "It is even resisting Kimdori attack viruses."

"And still no idea why our scanners can't detect it?"

"I have a theory, but it hasn't yet been proven," Kereth said.

"What, cousin?"

"I suspect the virus doesn't transmit by itself. Simply put, we're not detecting the virus because it is hiding inside something else, and while so hidden, it doesn't appear as a virus to our scanners. It piggybacks on something else, and that something has to be airborne. Only an airborne agent could transmit across Karis so quickly. I have a theory that the virus is attaching itself to the Kirri symbiotes, hiding within them, and it exits them and enters a host when those symbiotes enter the body. Of all microbes, Kirri symbiotes are one of the very rare few that can easily move in and out of a host body. I have the suspicion that the virus is attaching to the symbiotes, and only when the symbiote enters a host body does the virus either use the symbiote to reproduce itself or exit the symbiote to attempt to infect the host's immune system."

"When can you find that out?"

"As soon as the test results of the labs I ordered get back to us," he replied. "Since the virus doesn't show up on our medical scanners, they're using old-fashioned microscopes to visibly search for the virus within symbiotes."

"If that's how it's moving around, do you think you can find a way to stop it?" he asked.

"We'll see. But I will say that understanding how the virus works, even the smallest detail, gets us one step closer to beating it."

_[Jason, Aura's awake now,]_ Cybi called.

_[I'll be right over.]_ "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go back home for a while. Aura just woke up."

"There's nothing you can do here, dear," Songa told him.

It only took him about twenty minutes to get home, given that the skies around Karsa were almost deserted, and he went straight to Aura's house after landing. Vella was sitting in the living room reading a handpanel when he entered, as the boys played with building blocks by the couch and Sera napped in the big chair, her favorite place. _[Cybi said she's awake.]_

_ [Not long ago. The first thing she did was take a bath,]_ Vella answered dryly. Vella was one of Aura's best friends.

_I was a mess, of course I took a bath,_ Aura replied. She stepped out of the hallway leading to the interior of the house, a towel wrapped around her hair…and nothing else. _See, love? I'm just fine,_ she smiled as Jason stepped up and gave her a warm embrace.

_I see you can hear communion._

_ Can't quite get the hang of using it, though,_ she smiled.

_That will come in time, after you've had a couple of days,_ he assured her, then leaned down and kissed her. _Sorry I wasn't here to greet you when you woke up, but I think you can imagine how busy I am at the moment._

_ Yes I can, and I'm sure you couldn't really spare the time to run back home just to see me,_ she smiled radiantly.

_I…just hope that you're alright with what's happened to you._

_ Jason, love, how could being closer to you, and to the roots of our house, be anything but a good thing?_ she asked simply. _ The only thing I'm worried about are the kids, like Latoiya and Sami and Jari. Are they doing alright?_

_ All the kids are fine. All of them have already finished with the transition. Since they don't have as many cells as adults, it doesn't take as long. The ones too young to express won't feel any different. For that matter, neither will the older ones. After all, do _you_ feel any different?_

_ No, but when I look at you, I feel…something._

_ That proves that the transition was complete. Generations _know_ other Generations when they see them,_ he told her.

_You're one of us now, Aura,_ Vella smiled at her from the couch. _And I think I rather like that._

_ Just wait til you start meeting Generations you don't know, Vella,_ Jason told her.

_Eh, they're cousins. Family,_ she shrugged. _Doesn't matter if there's only a few hundred of us or a few million of us. We are still _connected_ by who and what we are. And for one, I'm overjoyed that some of my best friends are now on our side of the fence,_ she winked at Aura.

_I just hope the newcomers can understand that,_ Jason sent worriedly. _Especially since there are ten races of Generations now. I tell ya, Vella, it was the weirdest feeling in my life to look at Eliara and sense her,_ he told her ruefully. _Like I was in some kind of simsense or something._

_ I think it's kinda awesome,_ Vella bubbled. _And hey, now we're not gonna get overtaxed manning the big ships as primaries,_ she added with an audible laugh. _If anything, we're gonna have lots of people available for ship duty._

_ True enough, at least once we get them trained,_ Jason agreed. _And since the virus got into the KMS, we won't have to bring in civilians to do it. We can find suitable Generations already in the service and train them for ship duty._

_ Hell, we can install tacticals in the smaller ships and have _all_ of them with a primary,_ Vella grinned. _That's maximum protection for our ships and our crews, at least if we can make them strong enough to let the primary warp space._

_ Most likely, it's not all that hard,_ Jason shrugged.

_And that's the part of this I'm most eager to learn, the telekinesis. I think I've dreamed of being able to do it since I was a little girl back on Exile. It was so useful for the few of us who had it,_ Aura smiled. _They could gather the _dairu_ fruits so easily just by pulling them down with their power._

_ That does beg a question, Jayce. Will Unit Alpha still be a thing?_ Vella asked.

_Of course it will be,_ he replied. _Obviously, we won't be drafting the entire population of Generations into it anymore, but there will still be a Unit Alpha. And it'll consist of us original Generations and the strongest and most suited of the new Generations for military duty._

_ Sounds like you've talked to Myri about it._

_ We have,_ he nodded. _She wants to form four more units, one for each fleet, with Unit Alpha being the unit they send in when they need the best. We've been in Unit Alpha for years, Vella, there's no doubt we're the best at it._

_ Too right,_ she smiled, her Faey vanity peeking through._ So I take it we're gonna be training the newbies?_

_ Yah. I've been working up a schedule, putting who's best at a role as a trainer for the new recruits. Naturally, you'll be a tactical mecha operations trainer. You, Jezzi, Saelle, and Jenn are the best exomech tacticals we've got,_ he sent glowingly, which made her preen.

_And the silly thing is, I wasn't a rigger before Unit Alpha,_ she laughed. _I just fell in love with it the way you did, Jayce. So I take it Kaili and Mara will be the main primary trainers?_

_ They have the highest scores,_ he agreed.

_I'll definitely be putting in my application for a unit,_ Aura told them. _I'd be honored to join you two as a defender of the house. It's why I became a fighter pilot, after all._

"Does that mean you'll be going away on the ships again, Mommy?" Kevin asked, the twins looking at them.

Jason gave his son a sudden look, as Aura gasped and Vella looked back at the boys. "You heard that, Kevy?"

"Kinda. It was weird," Kaelan answered.

Jason just had to laugh. Maybe something good did come of all of this. "Oh, my beautiful boys!" Aura gushed, rushing over to them, kneeling down, and crushing them in a hug. "We were sending! You've both expressed! I'm so proud of you, my ducklings!"

"They've just gotta do everything together, even express," Vella laughed.

"It has to be a twin thing," Jason agreed, then he went over and joined Aura in hugging his sons. _Aya, Kevin and Kaelan just expressed. Since Ryn is still at the annex, can you send someone over here to teach them to close their minds?_

_ Certainly. I'll be right over,_ Aya replied happily.

_Everyone, the boys have expressed!_ Aura announced to the neighborhood. _So please keep the chatter down until they have a chance to learn how to close their minds!_

Despite the situation, everyone that was home and awake found the time to congratulate Aura. For Faey, there were few things more important than a child's talent expressing. Now, Aura had something much more important than her own transition to think about, and that was the initial training of the boys' talent and their passing party.

Expressed at five…that betrayed their potential. And it gave Jason a brief moment of unburdened happiness to hug his sons and celebrate their unwitting accomplishment, and that moment extended into nearly an hour of just talking, being with one of his extended outside families, giving his sons and his awakened daughter the attention they were due as he discussed the future with Aura and Vella.

After that, he spent nearly four hours making the rounds at the strip, visiting others who had awakened and were now Generations. He explained things to them, including "visiting" Jyslin after she "woke up" from her own transition—at least that wasn't a secret they had to keep anymore—and making it all the way outside the strip, talking with Rahne and Adam after he woke up. And in that one tiny regard, Jason felt like something good had come of this. Rahne and Jason weren't the last of their kind anymore—at least in one way, since they _were_ still the last of the original Terran Generations—and Adam and the other Terrans that had been changed represented the solidification and continuation of the Terran Generation line. Cybi was already classifying all converted Terrans as the _98__th_ Generation, for since the virus originated from Jason's DNA, she was classifying them all as Jason's progeny…at least from the view of the records Cybi kept concerning Generations. It was Jason's basic genetic footprint that the virus had inserted into the Terrans, which in a very technical sense made them the next generation in the Generations…so to speak.

The other races, Cybi was classifying as the first Generation _of their species_. So, she'd expanded her genealogical database to include all the new races.

_[We have an update, Jason,]_ Songa called over the network.

_[Is it a good one or a bad one?]_

_ [You don't want to know. Come back to the annex quickly, dear. I don't want to discuss this over the network.]_

Okay, _that_ was bad.

"Songa just recalled me to the annex," he told Rahne, standing up. Adam had excused himself to use the restroom. "Sorry to chat and run. When are you going to start training Adam, Rahne?"

"As soon as he recovers," she replied. "Once he can commune, I'll know he's ready."

"Yeah. _[I just got called back into work, Adam, see you later. And don't try to answer this, you're not ready yet,]_ he communed lightly, which made Adam laugh from down the hall.

"I did hear that!" he shouted from the bathroom.

Jason returned to the annex with Aya, who was joined by Ryn, Shen, and Suri, who had all woken up while he was out and were ready to resume their duties. "I'm here, dear," he called, coming over to the holotable where she stood with two Kimdori and three other red-coated doctors. "Now what's the bad news?"

"The bad news, dear, is that the Karis mutation of the virus has gotten out," she told him grimly. "_Krirara_ carried it back to Kirri'arr, and she has been affected by it. High Councilor Kreel has also been infected, he must have contracted it during his last visit."

He gave her a long, shocked look. "But it was only affecting humanoids!"

"The virus mutated _again_, Jason," Kereth told him. "And that is the bad news we must discuss. The virus is adapting itself to any species it infects, but it takes it time to do it. The more different the species is from the Faey-Terran genetic footprint, the longer the virus takes to adapt. We have nineteen new cases, and they represent eleven new species. Koui, Prakarikai, Yood, Imxi, Udra, Farguut, Imbiri, Aggjat, Colonists, and now the virus is starting to affect species outside your genus in the Kirri and the Grimja. By our estimation, in six days, cousin, the virus will have adapted to infect every race on Karis.

"But there is good news in this, cousin," he said. "While the virus is trying to adapt to a new host, it is _not_ contagious," he stressed. "And it seems that thus far, _only_ Kreel and Krirara are in transition. Since Krirara was on Karis when the planet was put on quarantine, she is still here and thus isolated from the other Kirri. As for Kreel, their medical people put him in medical isolation as soon as we announced the outbreak because he had recently been to Karis. And that seems to have prevented it from spreading beyond him. It looks hopeful that their quick reaction may have prevented it from spreading before the virus adapted to Grimja DNA and became contagious."

"Thank God for small favors," Jason breathed.

"There's more, cousin.. Both Kreel and Moderator Krazrou have ordered a full quarantine of their empires as a precaution, since Krirara had been home as recently as yesterday and Kreel brought the virus with him from Karis. Krarrik, Krirara's husband, is in medical isolation on Kirri'arr as a precaution. But the more problematic information is that the Draconis version of the virus made it to Terra."

"But the generic version didn't?"

"As far as we know," he nodded.

"There's a snag in that, dear. It turns out that the Draconis version of the virus _will_ affect Terrans," Songa told him. "Faey and Terrans are genetically similar enough for the virus to spread to them. There are about 1,700 reported cases of infection of both Terrans and Faey, on all six populated continents. So as of now, Terra is in full medical emergency protocol," she told him, giving him a sober look.

"Well…fuck," Jason sighed despondently. "Are they in danger of rejection?"

"We don't know yet, but we're watching," Songa answered. "Just as a guess, I'd say no, because Faey aren't suffering rejection either. The virus is affecting Terrans in the same way it is Faey, by disabling their immune systems and then spreading into the body from there."

"At this point, we may be looking at the conversion of the entire Faey and Terran species," one of the other Kimdori intoned soberly. "It's spread to sixteen planets or stations in the Imperium, and the distribution of infected Terrans on the planet hint that it has already achieved widespread distribution across the planet. And we are no closer to stopping it. It has very nearly reached the tipping point where it cannot be stopped."

"What we have learned, cousin, is that I was partially right," Kereth told him. "The virus is indeed being spread on Karis by the symbiotes. The virus rides inside them, then it exits the symbiote when they enter a host body. From there, a single virus can reproduce in sufficient numbers to begin infecting the host, so long as the host is compatible. If the host is not, the virus adapts itself to the host's DNA in order to affect it, which slows down the infection and renders the virus non-contagious while it's adapting to the host. What is of interest to us is that the virus is _not_ trying to convert the symbiotes, and the symbiotes do not try to destroy the virus. We may be able to use that information to stop it, conceivably come up with an agent that tricks the virus into thinking that the host is a symbiote."

"That's not good news, dear. The symbiotes are spread throughout the entire Karisian biosphere," Songa told him. "Purging the virus may mean purging the symbiotes, and that would be _exceptionally_ difficult. It would be like trying to pick up every grain of sand on a beach using only a pair of tweezers."

"It seems that our symbiote infusion project worked _too_ well," Jason said woodenly, trying to process what he'd just been told. "If it's in the symbiotes, does that mean that there's no real way to stop the virus?"

"There is always a way, cousin, but what it means is that quarantining citizens is a moot point. The only way to stop the spread would be to put everyone in medical isolation, and we simply do not have the resources to do that, not the entire population of a planet. We can isolate only about twelve percent of the population using airskin shields, hard shields, and bioscreen units. Cyvanne has ordered that all air conditioning units be set to recycle internal air to slow down the spread of infected symbiotes as much as possible. The one thing we could conceivably suggest is that people stay in their showers," he speculated. "Most Karisians have airskin units in their bathrooms. But I doubt that there would be enough room in them for families. And besides, by this point, that may be moot. If the virus is in the symbiotes, and we can't detect it, there's no telling who has infected symbiotes in them and who doesn't. At this point, our only realistic option is to find a vaccine for the virus to prevent it from converting hosts, and do it as quickly as we can. If the virus can't transition people, it renders it harmless."

He was quiet a long moment, looking at the statistics on the hologram over the table. The virus had spread across the Imperium, and what was more important to him, the non-mutated form of the virus had managed to reach Terra before the planet was quarantined. That meant that his entire race was no exposed to it, in danger from it, and it had the potential to cause absolute chaos. Terrans would suddenly become telepathic, and they'd have an untold number of new telepaths expressing all at once, overwhelming any attempt by the Faey or other telepathic species to help teach them even the basics.

But there was something they might be able to do about that. He hijacked the table and caused it to connect to Terra, and a hologram of Ayuma's bionoid appeared. _"What's going on, Jayce?"_ she asked.

"What I'm about to tell you does not leave that office," he told her. "Are you alone?"

_"I will be in ten seconds."_ She made a shooing motion, waited a moment, then looked back to him. _"I am now."_

"The virus has spread to Terra, and it's affecting Terrans," he told her, which made her gasp, then frown. "That means that you may have untold numbers of newly expressed telepaths there, and nowhere near enough telepaths to give them even basic instruction face to face. My question is, cousin, can you come up with some kind of Academy course that can be taken by remote that will help those Terrans? If they have _each other_ as practice partners, could we have an instructor walk them through the basics from remote?"

"_It wouldn't be anywhere near effective, but it might help. If anything, it would keep them calm, make them feel in control, which might prevent any episodes,"_ she said, tapping her cheek with a finger as she thought. _"I can come up with something, and I'll set aside blocks on the Academy's educational network for it. And I think I'm going to arrange some auditorium space at the main Academy and all satellite campuses where two or three instructors teach hundreds of students at a time. I could design a one week course that teaches how to close the mind and the basics of sending, which is all that they'd really need to know. We can come back afterwards and teach more advanced techniques when we have everyone trained enough to not cause any psychotic breaks. In the meantime, I'd suggest you talk to Dahnai and get some additional Imperial Marines on Terra as fast as possible. The U.N. may need them to keep control if things start getting crazy."_

"I will. And good deal, cousin, I knew I could count on you."

_"I'll do what I can, cousin,"_ she smiled. _"I'll send you some preliminaries when I have some."_

"Send it to Jerrim as well," he told her.

_"Will do. Talk to you again when I have something to give you."_ And her hologram winked out.

"There's no more we can tell you, cousin, so it might be best if you go home and get some rest. You look exhausted," Kereth told him, leaning down and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I guess, though I'll be too busy to get any rest," he said, looking up at the massive black-furred Kimdori with a wry smile. He'd always been rather fond of Kereth.

He left the annex with twelve guards in tow, who had woken up from their transition, and they let him sit up front with Aya and not bother him as he considered what he'd learned. If they were right, then every species on Karis was going to get infected and transitioned. All of them. Over three billion people on this planet, and every single one of them would be a Generation…even the _Kizzik_. If the virus could adapt to any species, then it was no stretch that the Kizzik would also be infected, and that made him ponder just what that was going to do to their society. Drones weren't very smart, and if they were suddenly telepathic, it very well might induce chaos into their hive structure. And then there was the fact that insectoid minds were so alien to most other life that they couldn't be communicated with telepathically. If those alien minds were suddenly telepathic…how was that going to work? Would Kizzik telepaths be able to communicate with non-Kizzik telepaths?

But it went beyond that. Was it going to affect _Amber_? Did the virus have the ability to adapt to vastly different living things, like animals? Jason had the feeling that it didn't, since it wasn't trying to convert the symbiotes. There had to be some kind of range that the virus could affect, maybe people with a certain number of chromosomes, or only species that had the ability to accept the segment of new DNA that made them Generations and still be viable. So, he had the feeling that they wouldn't be dealing with a sudden rash of household pets and food animals becoming telepathic. A quick check of the data Songa had available to him told him that he was right, the virus seemed to have a range. It would only affect species with sufficiently developed brains to accept the DNA segment that changed them into Generations.

He had to accept the reality of the situation, that they may not find a cure in time to prevent the entire planet from being infected. That they would have three billion Generations on Karis…and potentially _223 billion_ Generations outside of it. That was the current population of the Faey in the Imperium, on Terra, and in the Collective. And that included the current population of Terrans on Terra.

There was one tiny comfort out of it, and that was the idea that Terra would be beyond safe if the entire Terran population were Generations. The Faey showed the folly that was a non-telepathic race attacking a telepathic one, and the entire Terran race becoming telepathic would make attacking Terra even more daunting than it was with the Confederation protecting it.

There was nothing he could do to stop it. The only thing he could do now was mitigate the potential damage as much as possible by ensuring that those Generations never, _ever_ got their hands on biogenic technology.

But it did beg one very disturbing question…would the Imperium become warlike once they fully adapted to their newfound power as Generations? He doubted it ever would with Dahnai on the throne, or Sirri, because Jason had too much influence over them, but what about Sirri's daughter? Or Sirri's granddaughter? Would there come a time when the Generations of the Imperium used their powers to make war on others?

He really didn't want to think about that…at least not right now. He had much more immediate problems.

_Chiira, 6 Hiraa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Thursday, 16 August 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Chiira, 6 Hiraa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_Foxwood East, Karsa, Karis_

He was _so_ tired.

Sitting at his desk up in his home office, he looked over the most recent figures from Songa. The number of infected had just went over one million, and they represented 71 of the 137 races that lived on Karis. The virus had adapted to most humanoid species, and had also spread to nearly half of the mammalian and reptilian species, such as the Verutans, Skaa, Hrathari, Beryans, Urumi, Rakarri, Crai, and the like. It had yet to spread beyond them, but if anything, Jason knew it was just a matter of time. In time, even exotic species like the Araban, Birkons, Stevak, Kizzik, and Jakkans would be infected.

And they still had absolutely no idea how to stop it. Songa and Kereth had thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at the virus, and nothing had worked. They also didn't still didn't entirely understand how the virus was evading sensors. They'd developed a technique to cause the virus to appear on medical sensors when it was piggybacking inside symbiotes, and when it was present in a host, but they still couldn't detect the virus when it was outside of a host body. And they were convinced that it had to be airborne, because the models showed that if the virus was only being spread by symbiotes, it wouldn't have spread the way it had. The symbiotes were an alternative method of spreading the virus.

He looked over the latest report. Jerrim and Ayuma had come up with a training schedule where current Generations would be training new ones in large classes, some a thousand in number and held in smaller stadium venues, where they would be taught the absolute basics, as well as taught about the rules that Generations lived by on Karis. The average citizen would only learn the very basics, while those in the KMS, in government, and those who proved themselves would receive more comprehensive instruction. Only those the house trusted would be trained in the secrets of the Generations, while the vast majority would learn how to commune and the basics of moving things with telekinesis. They would not be taught how to split, since that had potential tactical value, nor would they be taught any intermediate or advanced telekinetic technique. If they wanted to learn more, they could enroll in the Academy and take TK courses from the Pai.

Siyhaa, Myleena, and the CBIMs had busted their butts and "child-proofed" their systems. The biogenic network now had blocks in it that kept untrusted Generations out, and every non-imprint gestalt on the planet now had a lock on it so that only those on the gestalt's access list could use it. They sorted that out by security levels, with the more powerful gestalts having higher security levels, all the way up to the CBIMs. The original Generations in Unit Alpha and Jyslin held the highest clearance, able to use any gestalt on the planet, and below them they'd created seven security levels that would unlock gestalts of progressively more powerful levels. Tactical gestalts in vehicles would carry a clearance that would allow most any member of the KMS or the government to access them. The mobile tactical gestalt units, the big boys they used to bring in a heavy hitter onto a battlefield, would be restricted only to those KMS members specifically trained to use them. Fixed position gestalts would have an even higher levels, three different levels, restricted only to those who had training in high-power gestalts. The ship defense gestalts that the Primaries used would have an even higher clearance that would only allow members of a tactical Generation unit to use them, since only a trained member of a Unit would be pulling Primary duty on a ship. And the highest level would be for the CBMOMs and CBIMs, which would only allow their assigned Primary, Secondary, and four reserves to access them. But then again, the sentient biogenic units had control over their own merge, so they could kick someone off that was trying to merge who wasn't supposed to. Jason and Jyslin would have Level Seven clearance, while the lowest clearance, Level One, would be for KMS members, government officials, and other Karinnes that had earned a measure of trust through training and screening.

Miaari was setting that up now, putting in a screening process to ensure that only those Generations with loyalty to the house and no ulterior motives would gain access to gestalts, and only trustworthy workers would gain access to the sensitive parts of the network.

His personal life had been fully swept by the virus. Every one of his friends, all of his co-workers in the White House, every member of 3D, virtually everyone within his social circle of friends and co-workers had either finished or was almost finished with the transition. The only ones that had _not _were Chirk and the Kizzik members of his cabinet, and it was only a matter of time until the virus adapted to Kizzik DNA and affected them. The last report said that Talty and Siyhaa were in the last stages of transition, and had suffered no complications. Siyhaa had done most of the work fighting the fatigue that came with transition, and she'd managed to finish only about an hour before the virus put her in that light coma to complete the conversion of her brain. Tom, Maggie, Jenny, Bo, Leamon, Luke, Mike, all the Terran members of 3D, they were all Generations now, and had already started learning about the new aspects of their lives. As were the non-Terrans, like Emia, Eraen, Vi'Dar, Mha, Gado, and the others.

They'd also be gaining a temporary guest. In about an hour, Kreel would be arriving on Karis, and the main reason was because it was safest for the Grimja and the Union to get him completely off the planet until they were absolutely sure he wasn't contagious. It would give Jason a chance to teach him the basics about his new abilities, along with Krirara…and a tiny part of him rather liked that. Kreel and Krirara were some of his best friends, and it felt, well, it made him feel closer to them that they were now Generations.

And progress had been made. All of the guards and most of the strip girls had learned how to actively commune today, as had Seido, Ayama, and Surin. Jenn had spared a few hours to teach Aya, Kaera, Hara, and Dera how to split, and now they were teaching the other guards how to do it. Tomorrow, Mrar would come to the strip to teach the guards the exercises to awaken their TK. Mrar was also a Generation now, but given she was a Pai, she could do almost all of what Generations could do anyway. The only thing she got out of it was the radiation resistance and the ability to split, though it did open up her bandwidth when communing considerably. But only those who had been telepaths before they were changed were making progress. Merra, who hadn't been a telepath before, was still trying to express, and couldn't commune until she expressed, though Jason suspected she could learn how to split without being expressed. Seido had been working with her all day to try to trigger her telepathy.

Seido…_fuck_. Like Jyslin and Dahnai, becoming a Generation had boosted her telepathic power, to the point where she was stronger than he was now. She was in the top 10% when it came to Generations when it came to raw strength

But the true shining stars when it came to that little aspect of becoming a Generation were, unsurprisingly, Yana and Temika. They had been documented as two of the most powerful non-Generation telepaths on Karis, but now both of them were two of the most powerful telepaths _period_. Temika was maybe just below Jezzi now on the power chart, while Yana was more powerful than Jyslin, and possibly eye to eye with Saelle. Myleena was still the top dog, however.

The strip was a microcosm of what was going on all over the planet at that very moment. A newly changed Generation would wake up to a bionoid watching over them, who would give them a quick medical check and then play a recorded message from Jason, explaining what they'd be doing for the next few takirs…learning. Since quarantine was still in effect to slow down the virus, they'd have time to practice in their houses. The bionoid would then go to their next appointment while the new Generation ate a hearty meal and then read the literature they'd written that explained what a Generation was and what they could do in more detail. If the Generation hadn't been a telepath before, they received a lot of stuff explaining how telepathy worked and were put on a watch list for expression. If they expressed while in quarantine, a telepath would be dispatched to them immediately to teach them how to close their minds, which was _the most important _thing they could do to prevent a new telepath from suffering a schism or psychotic break. All the mental voices of unshielded minds around them constantly filling their heads was the fast track to unbalancing a neophyte telepath and causing them to become dangerous. After reading through the material, they would then schedule their orientation course with the CBIM that ran their continent. And after that…there was little they could do but wait at home and keep close to the vidlink to keep up with the latest news. A planet-wide quarantine was still in effect to try to slow down the spread of the virus as much as possible, so right now, the only traffic moving around were bionoids, robots, Sticks delivering food to emergency distribution centers, and a very select few living things that had clearance to be outside…and the original Generations were on that list. If a new Generation suffered a schism, it would take a highly trained Generation backed up by a tactical gestalt to contain them so they didn't do themselves or anyone else any harm.

He finished the report and brought up another one, looking over the projected rate of spread of the virus, and all it did was depress him. He felt…felt like he'd failed. Like he'd failed the house for allowing the most dangerous aspect of the house to escape. There were now millions of Generations, both inside and outside the house, and any potential evil they did in the future would be completely and wholly his fault. He should have taken the threat of another outbreak more seriously. He should have had Songa do extensive research into the problem, come up with a plan of action to stop it if it happened again. But he hadn't taken it seriously enough…and now this. Generations on Terra, Generations in the Imperium, Generations in the Collective. The rulers of two outside empires now Generations in Dahnai and Kreel.

A hologram winked on over his desk, but he didn't bother to look up at it. "What now?" he asked despondently.

There was a long silence. "We have something, Jason," Songa said.

"More bad news," he sighed, looking up at her. "I'll be there in a little while."

He didn't bother to put on armor, or even put on nicer clothes. And he didn't bother telling Aya he was going to the annex, either, but she was one step ahead of him by having a guard posted at the landing pad. Aya herself decided to accompany him. He entered the situation room and saw the same faces, many of them now looking haggard, and he fit right in with them. He stepped up to the table where Songa and Kereth were standing, and allowed Kereth to put a hand on his neck in greeting. "What's the bad news?"

"It's both bad and good, cousin. We've learned that this won't be a permanent issue for the galaxy, but that information comes with a troubling connotation."

"In plain words, cousin?"

"The virus has a life span, which is a constant through all mutated forms of it," Songa told him. "It's only viable for about six Terran weeks once it's created. After that, the virus just falls apart and its resulting components become harmless. We've also learned why we weren't detecting it, dear, and it's related to that life span. The virus transmits through the air in _components_, and those components assemble into the virus inside the cell of a host. When the virus reproduces, it creates both copies of itself and the components to assemble new viruses. That makes the virus volatile, susceptible to alteration and mutation, which is why the virus mutated when it was passed from Dahnai to you. But that compartmented structure also makes it temporary. A virus and the components that make it only have a life span of about 44 days, and the virus can only assemble itself inside the cell of an unaltered host. So, the key to stopping this virus, dear, is for us to go 45 days without a new case. A new case produces new viruses and components, and those viruses and components reset the clock. If we can go 45 days without a new case, the clock runs out and the virus goes extinct."

"We've learned how to determine the age of a virus to know how much longer it has before it dies," Kereth added.

"Have you come up with a way to stop it?"

Songa shook her head. "Despite understanding how it works, it still resists any treatment we come up with," she told him. "No matter what we do, the virus either repairs itself from available components or reassembles itself and continues on. And we think we know why."

"Cousin, this virus is not _natural_," Kereth told him intently. "The way it assembles itself from components and the way it can repair itself if damaged is not anything that exists in a natural virus. The only biological agents that have that kind of behavior are artificial. The Moridon bio-agent is one such example," he explained. "Cousin. Jason. This virus was _engineered_. It was engineered to be unstoppable, but it was also engineered to have a life span, so the virus would die off on its own after it did its work."

He felt a sudden fury rise up in him . "_Ward Six_!" he hissed.

Kereth nodded gravely. "That is our suspicion," he agreed. "Denmother suspects that Ward Six created this virus, with the intent to give the Imperium Generations. But I don't think whoever made it intended for it to mutate the way it did and make it _generic_. The virus in the Imperium will only affect Faey and Terrans, and no other species, which is probably the original virus. Even then, I suspect it wasn't meant to affect Terrans. I personally suspect that the virus broke containment and got out before they had perfected it, and to cover it up, they intentionally released it to make it appear to be a natural outbreak. After all, if the virus swept through the Medical Service before anyone else, it would look highly suspicious. The speed with which it spread through the Imperium and jumped quarantine lines hints to me that it was deliberately released at strategic points within the Imperium to maximize the spread of the virus."

Jason had to clench his fist so tightly it caused pain, the endolimb under going past natural limits, to focus him. Those…those…_asshats_! He didn't want to believe that the Medical Service would be capable of something like this, but in truth, they were the only ones in the Imperium with the skills to do something like this! He very nearly ordered Myri to blast the main annex HQ on Draconis into dust, but fortunately for him he got hold of his temper before he went over the edge. But still, it took almost everything within him to not fly into an immediate rage. The Medical Service had betrayed the Imperium, the House, had perverted everything it meant to be a Generation, and may have unleashed a monster that may ultimately destroy the galaxy. If the wrong people got their hands on biogenic technology, it would be a disaster of epic proportions.

And most of those _wrong hands_ were within the Imperium itself. The Grand Duchesses of the _siann_ would turn on Dahnai in a heartbeat if they felt they could use their newfound Generation powers and gestalts to dethrone her. They were being good girls right now because they liked the money and they saw no real way to get Dahnai out of the way, but this changed things. He had no doubt that right now, more than one Grand Duchess was carefully counting how many Imperial Marines had become Generations and weighing those numbers against their own forces. And they were also no doubt scheming up some way to get off the island and locate and steal a gestalt the next time they came to the Summer Palace for court.

He desperately wanted to thrash Banlia and the entire Medical Service, but even knew he that would be a dreadful mistake. There was no organization more revered and loved by the Faey people than the Medical Service. To openly go against them would permanently poison the image of the House of Karinne in the eyes of the common Faey. The only way to go after Banlia would be to make an ironclad open and shut case against her, and her making a public confession of her crimes would also be almost required. The common Faey would never think a doctor capable of wrongdoing, even if confronted with evidence of their misdeeds.

This had to be handled carefully.

Kereth got his attention. "This information requires you to make a decision, cousin," he said. "It's our professional opinion that we cannot stop this virus without months, possibly years of research and experimentation, and by then, it may be too late. We must make a decision on if we should waste resources trying," he prompted. "It may be a wiser use of resources to manage the virus as it runs its course, to give it no new hosts to infect and have the virus die off after 45 days, because nothing we do can stop it. I will be honest here, cousin. Right now, the only way I can see this playing out is the virus infecting every person on the planet," he said honestly. "By the time we come up with a counter to it, it very well may be too late. If we manage the spread of the virus, we can have it run its course in an orderly fashion that doesn't stress our resources and start the clock where it dies off quickly. Because that is important, cousin. The more time we give this virus, the greater the chance it's going to spontaneously mutate into something deadly," he warned.

He gave Kereth a long look. "You're serious."

"It's a viable option, dear," Songa said. "If we give this virus months, years to mutate again and again, it may turn into a plague that will kill us all. As a doctor, it's my recommendation that we do what we have to do to make this virus die off on its own as quickly as possible. The virus itself is a far greater potential threat than what it is doing. Think about it, dear, it's already mutated over a hundred times. What happens to the house if an unstoppable virus turns deadly?"

All murderous thoughts of Banlia and the Medical Service drained out of him as their suggestion hit home. They were asking him to deliberately allow people to get infected and become Generations, to do the one thing he did not ever want to do. Becoming a Generation, after all, carried much more baggage than the benefits it gave. Those people would become hunted, wanted, would have to stay on Karis for their own protection, especially if they weren't Faey or Terran. The governments of their old empires probably wouldn't blink over abducting them and dissecting them to learn the secret of how they became Generations, then try to reproduce that effect in their own population. And part of that was Jason's own fault, because they knew what a Generation could do after seeing them in action during the Syndicate War. Generation Primaries had made the KMS ships on which they were stationed all but invulnerable, and that was a power that any empire would want for themselves.

They were asking him to make an impossible choice…refuse and risk killing the entire planet if the virus turned malignant, or accept and sentence every member of the House to being imprisoned on Karis for the rest of their lives..

Though, that choice was already more or less out of his hands, because of the Imperium. He would already have to safeguard biogenic technology from them.

"I…I…I have to think about that," he said wearily.

Instead of going home, he went to his home office, which was empty. The entire building was empty, because of the quarantine, with only Chichi there, who was being fed by a bionoid. She was quite overjoyed to see him, nearly dancing in circles when he came into the office, and he had to stop and pick her up and get her to settle down a little bit. "I'm so sorry, little girl," he told her softly. "I had no idea they just left you here. I'll speak very sternly to some people once things settle down. Until then, by God, you are coming home with me," he declared. He stroked the petite tabi's fur—she was a fully grown adult, but wasn't much bigger than she was when she first came to the office—then carried her into the office and sat at his desk with her in his lap, rubbing her head against his hand happily as he considered Kereth's nearly unacceptable solution to the problem.

It really was a no-win situation. To protect his people, they were asking him to condemn them to isolation and separation from the rest of the universe. At least as it was now, they could go on vacations off world, go see friends and family. They had lives, they had options, they had freedom, and becoming Generations would take that freedom away from them. Most citizens probably didn't know that, know that the Generations were all but prisoners on the planet, with only a rare few allowed off of it.

There was another part of the equation that he felt nearly as sacred as their freedom…their _free will_. To order the virus to be allowed to spread would take away the right of his people to choose, choose who they wanted to be, what they wanted to be. The right of free will was cherished by Jason and most of the house, because it was built entirely on that free will. Every person that was here was here because they wanted to be here. They had chosen the House of Karinne, and Jason felt that it would violate the trust those people placed in him when they came here to take the freedom to choose away from them.

The counter of that argument was basic survival. If the virus became deadly, they'd have no way to stop it. Songa had made that fairly clear, that since the virus was engineered, it was built to be basically unstoppable. The only way to stop it was to not give it any more people to infect, and since it had already all but spread throughout the entire ecosystem, they weren't going to do that by isolating people. They'd tried that, and new cases were still being reported in the thousands. If Songa and Kereth were right, they could end the threat of the virus by letting it convert the population, then die off when it couldn't infect any new hosts.

But that came back to the problem of sentencing his people to life in prison…the prison of Karis.

For hours, he struggled with it, going over the pros and cons of each decision over and over, until it became a repeating cycle of circular logic.

But really, there was only one choice he could make. He had to protect the lives of his people, even if it meant that their lives were spent in a gilded cage. If Kereth and Songa truly believed that the only way to stop the virus and prevent it from mutating into a deadly plague was to allow it to infect the entire planet, then he had to believe it. They would never lie to him about something like that. But, he also would not take away the right of his people to choose who and what they wanted to be.

A few swift commands activated the FERA alert system, and he hijacked all media on the planet to give an address. Every vidlink, handpanel, interface, and holo-emitter on the planet was taken over, and his face appeared on all of them. "Hello everyone," he said in a tired, defeated tone, scratching at the scraggly beard that had grown in over the last few days. "I've been given news about the current situation that I feel you deserve to hear, and deserve to hear from me. The Medical Service has studied the virus, and they've determined that modern medical science simply cannot stop it," he declared. "Not without years of research into the virus, which by then would be too late. Their greatest fear right now is that the virus is going to mutate into something far more dangerous than what it is now. I'm not sure everyone has been keeping up with the news, so I'll explain a little bit. The virus is highly volatile, altering itself so it can infect any host it comes into contact with. That makes it very easy for the virus to mutate in unexpected ways, and the Medical Service's greatest concern is that this volatility causes the virus to mutate into something life-threatening. But we've also learned that the virus has a life span. It only lasts about four and a half takirs. If the virus doesn't find a host and infect them, which allows it to reproduce fresh viruses, then the virus dies. The Medical Service has recommended that the only way to really stop the virus is to allow it to run its course, to infect every person on Karis, so that it simply has nobody left to infect. They're confident that at that point, the virus will die off before it has the chance to mutate into something deadly.

"That may sound like a logical solution on its face, but I find myself in great disagreement with it," he said. "Not because I'm afraid of the Karinnes becoming Generations, but because it takes away your right to choose," he added, his voice becoming adamant and strong. "To just give that order would be taking away your right to be who you want to be, to choose the path that your life takes. Some of you may not _want_ to be Generations, because of the restrictions that come with that title. There are some serious drawbacks to being a Generation that many of you may not know about, and the biggest of them is that Generations are restricted to House territory. We're not allowed to leave because of the danger we'd be in from the outside world, who have tried in the past to abduct us or use us to unlock the secrets of the Generations. As it stands now, you have freedom. You have options. You have choices. But those will be restricted if you become Generations, because preventing others from weaponizing the powers that Generations wield is one of the primary responsibilities of the house. I have a duty to the galaxy to protect it from _us_, to protect defenseless planets from falling prey to empires that have managed to gain access to Generations. But I also have a duty to you, the people of the House of Karinne, to look out for you, protect you, and above all, keep you alive and safe.

"The Medical Service has made it clear that the longer this virus is allowed to exist, the greater the chance it's going to mutate into something truly dangerous. But the only solution to that problem is going to force me to betray my duty to you, the people of the house," he said in a tired voice. "There's only one way I can fulfill the obligation to protect your lives but still defend your rights. So, everyone, I'm offering you a choice. I'm going to send every citizen of the House a file that explains exactly what a Generation is and what we can do, but also lists the duties, obligations, responsibilities, and restrictions that come with being a Generation. I want you to read that file, and I want you to think about it, think very hard if you can accept living under those rules. If you can, and the idea of being a Generation appeals to you, then you will inform your continent's CBIM that you are _opting in_ and are willing to voluntarily be exposed to the virus. You'll receive instructions from the Medical Service on what will come and how you can go through the transition comfortably, as well as instructions on what will happen after you undergo the transition and become a Generation.

"If you decide that it's not want you want, then you will inform your CBIM that you are _opting out_. If you choose to opt out, we will do everything in our power to protect you from the virus until it ages out and dies on its own. Just to warn you, it's probably going to involve wearing a medical E-suit and being in complete isolation for however long it takes for the virus to die off. It may take months, and it may not even work. There's every chance that you've already been infected by the virus, and it's only a matter of time before you begin the transition," he warned. "But if that's what you want, we will do everything in our power to make it happen.

"I want you, I want all of you, to choose the path you take as we move forward in this difficult time," he said strongly. "I want everyone to feel comfortable with the decision they've made. I want you to feel that you made the right choice when you joined the House of Karinne. I—" he cut off, closing his eyes. "I want to apologize to everyone that this happened at all," he said, scratching Chichi between the ears, which made her give a little chirp of pleasure. "I thought we were ready for a situation like this, but now I see just how unprepared we were. It's my responsibility as the Grand Duke to keep everyone safe, to protect your rights, and I failed. I can only hope that those who were infected by the virus and had no desire to be anything but what they were can forgive me for this, at least some day," he said earnestly, looking back at the holocamera.

"That's all. The file holding all the information should be arriving on your vidlinks or interfaces within the hour. I ask all of you to please read it, think about it, then make an informed decision about what you want to do. Thank you for your time, and good luck to us all."

He ended the broadcast, then leaned back in his chair and endured Chichi trying to climb up his chest to nuzzle his face. She could sense his disquiet, his sense of disappointment in himself, and above all, the crushing feeling that he had failed the people of his house. _[Cybi, do me a favor and write up that file and push it out,]_ he called.

_[I'll take care of it. For what it's worth, Jason, I think you did the right thing,]_ she answered, her thought supportive, even hopeful.

_[I certainly don't feel like I've done anything good,]_ he told her honestly.

He turned his chair and looked out the window, out over the nearly deserted city of Karsa, and he was quiet a long time. Eventually, he gave a forlorn sigh, stroked Chichi's sinfully soft fur, and closed his eyes.

"My god, Chichi," he intoned without emotion. "What have I done."

_Raira, 8 Hiraa , 4408, Faey Orthodox Calendar_

_ Saturday, 18 August 2022 Terran Standard Calendar_

_ Raira, 8 Hiraa, year 1333 of the 97__th__ Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar_

_Salura's Imports, Shopping District, Karsa, Karis_

Karsa was alive again.

Wearing a tee shirt and jeans, Jason and Jyslin were greeting people and shaking hands outside Salura's, one of the larger stores in the Bali Building in the shopping district. These were the people who had opted in, and who had been allowed to end quarantine, so they were back about their daily business. They were back at work, back to living their lives, with all three phases represented. Some had yet to be infected, some were in the first stages of transition, and most had already completed their transition and become Generations. And with them trying to get back to some semblance of normal, Jason was out there to talk to them, to hopefully make them feel like things were going to be alright.

Aya had vociferously objected to him coming out, but she knew better than to push too hard over something like _this_, so she and a complement of nine other guards were hovering around them. Jason needed to do this, he needed to talk to the people of Karsa and hear their opinions, listen to their concerns, and hopefully be reassured that he'd made the right decision.

Thus far, they'd had no problems with Jason's decision and the actions that followed it. A staggering 98% of the population of Karis had opted in, and they were still being released from quarantine in stages because of the sheer number of people the Medical Service had to process. Songa had drawn up a schedule of deliberately infecting citizens to spread out the burden on those who had to take care of them when they completed transition, but there was always the possibility that they would be infected before their assigned date, so there was a lot of flexibility in that schedule. Everyone who had already become Generations had been released from quarantine, so they represented the vast majority of the people out and about in the city.

It was the strangest feeling to Jason to sense Generations everywhere he went, to sense them of other races. And there was a feeling in the streets that something had changed, was different. Karinnes were usually polite to each other, but there was the strangest sense of _camaraderie_ in the streets. People were going out of their way to greet complete strangers, even stop and talk a moment. Anyone in the slightest need of assistance got six or seven people offering it. And people were generally just…_happy_. And he hadn't the slightest idea why. Despite not entirely understanding it, he was overjoyed it was there, because it kept everyone calm, everyone relaxed, and everyone optimistic.

The only real problem they were having was digging up instructors. Most of the house's population of telepaths had been scheduled to help those who had become them in the transition, which was going to cause a little chaos. Telepaths only represented about 38% of the House's population, with the vast majority of them being Faey, and most of them having no experience teaching. And now they were going to have to give 66% of the population basic instruction in telepathy. Experienced instructors were going to be used as much as possible, but just about anyone with experience with talent was going to be lending a hand to help new telepaths close their minds. Once they learned that, a more experienced teacher was going to teach the very basics of sending, and from there, it was up to the new telepath just how much they wanted to learn about their new ability. Telekinesis wasn't going to be taught, though anyone in the house would have the opportunity to learn, they just had to do it themselves. They'd be given the chance to enroll in remote courses with the Academy and learn about TK, as well as learn the exercises the Pai used to help their people coax out the ability.

And those exercises were effective. As of last night, four of the 45 guards in Aya's detachment had managed to move something with TK; Dera, Brae, Mai, and Zena. Those four along with Aya learning how to split proved that all the abilities of a Generation had passed through the virus. The new Generations were just as much Generations as Jason and Myleena were, as much as Dahnai and Jyslin were. And now, as much as Seido, Krirara, and Kreel were.

That still seemed a bit outlandish. His Grimja friend was standing not far away chatting it up with an Urumi and a Verutan, and all three were Generations. He was wearing a Terran tank top and his beloved Bermuda shorts. He'd arrived two days ago and settled in at the house, doing his job as High Councilor over hologram, and he wasn't alone in that he wasn't the only non-Karinne on Karis right now because they'd been infected. Standing beside him, and looking entirely too pleased with herself, was Enva. She'd been on Draconis when the virus hit, but she'd been infected with _Jason's_ strain because she'd been on Karis a few days before. Since the palace was put on quarantine about two minutes after Enva walked through the door, it had prevented the Karis strain of the virus from propagating on Draconis. In all the chaos since this started, Jason had simply not known that Enva had been there, and had been infected. And she became contagious while within the palace.

That did put the Karis strain of the virus on Draconis, but it was currently completely sealed inside the Imperial Palace compound. When they turned on the hard shield to seal off the palace, it trapped the virus inside. It did infect the non-Faey members of Dahnai's staff inside the palace, but it prevented the virus from getting any further. Since Enva and the non-Faey members of the staff were infected with the Karis strain, they were brought over to Karis so they didn't have the chance to potentially spread the virus. Enva was staying on the strip at Jason's house, while the members of Dahnai's staff were over at the summer palace.

She and Kreel represented a couple of complications in all this, Generations not only outside of Jason and Dahnai's control, but rulers of their own empires. But in that regard, they'd seriously lucked out in that neither the Grimja nor the Sha'i-ree were aggressive or expansionistic. The chances that either used their own DNA in some plot to create new Generations to use to expand their empires were slim to none.

They also, thankfully, represented the only instances where the Karis strain infected outsiders. Krirara had been exposed to the virus, but there were no signs of it on Kirri'arr, and her husband and children also showed no signs of infection. She must not have been contagious until after the quarantine was ordered, which prevented the virus from spreading on her home planet. Kreel too had not spread the virus on Grimjar, they'd gotten him into medical isolation before he became contagious, and that saved Jason a whole lot of anguish and heartburn.

Not that Kreel looked like he was suffering. He was actually quite excited over the idea of being a Generation, and the jerk had not only learned how to commune already, he'd also managed to use his telekinesis for the first time this morning.

Amazing what an hour or so of instruction under Mrar could do. She was truly an incredibly gifted teacher.

Neither Kreel nor Enva had entirely worked out how they were going to deal with their newfound status when it came to their home empires. Thanks to the _fucking _Medical Service, it had become common knowledge that those infected by the virus had become Generations, those morons had released that information publicly without clearing it with Dahnai first. So now the Union and the Sha'i-ree knew that their leaders had been infected by the virus and turned into Generations. What was much more concerning, however, was that now the council knew that there were millions of new Generations in the Imperium and on Terra, Generations not locked behind the impenetrable wall that was Karis, and that Enva and Kreel were as well.

Plans had already been made to prevent any Faey or Terrans on Terra from "mysteriously disappearing." Jason was going to build a biogenic planetary sensor network at Terra capable of tracking Generations by their very presence, the biogenic units sensing them the same way Generations could sense one another, and a system was being worked up by Jrz'kii that would ensure that a Generation wasn't smuggled off Terra by matching passenger manifests with ship passengers. To force ships to go through those checkpoints, he was going to have a planetary shield installed on Terra, which would force all ships to enter and exit the planet using established gates. Those gates would become the chokepoint preventing the abduction Terrans for nefarious purposes. Terra would remain a neutral and open planet, it would just have much more stringent inspection protocols for anyone leaving the planet.

His people went through that once already with the Trillanes. _Never fucking again_.

The reason why was simple: it looked like the complete conversion of both the Terran and Faey races was inevitable at this point. The virus was still spreading like absolute wildfire across the Imperium, and it had picked up speed in its spread across Terra. There were confirmed cases in every major metropolitan center in North America, and there were cases being reported in multiple cities on all five other continents. Their own experience with the virus told them that at this point, the virus could not be stopped.

Jason wasn't sure if he hated that idea or not. But at this point, he was resigned to it.

_[It's certainly a lot more noisy now,]_ Jyslin noted in a cheery mindset, communing privately with him. _[And I can't make fun of the guards like this anymore. Dera will hear me,]_ she added, giving the Imperial Guard a wink.

Dera stared her down in return, which made Jyslin all but giggle like a little girl.

_[I'm still not sure I made the right decision, but I can't help but feel encouraged by the sense of positivity on the streets,]_ he answered, shaking a Colonist's hand and greeting him aloud. _[I expected a lot more fear and uncertainty than this. And I sure as hell didn't expect nearly the entire population to opt in.]_

_ [Love, I don't think you understand just how much the people look up to the Generations,]_ she told him. _[And the chance to be one, to do the things they've seen you do, and for many the chance to become telepaths, it's almost irresistible. How is Zaa handling it?]_

_ [She told me I made the right decision,]_ he answered. _[Kereth told her that it's absolutely vital that we get rid of this virus as fast as possible, and this was the fastest way, given they have no idea how to stop it. Besides that, Zaa seems…_happy_ about the virus for some reason. I can sense it when I talk to her. She seems quite content with the idea that it looks like two entire species are going to be converted.]_

_ [We're family, love, and the bigger the family, the better,]_ Jyslin answered easily.

_[Huh. Love, it may be just that simple.]_ "I'm sure you'll be just fine," he assured the Colonist, patting him on the shoulder. Holding two separate conversations at once was child's play for an experienced Generation. "The Medical Service hasn't had a single major complication yet. It's so safe they're allowing people to go through their transition at home, with a bionoid or robot with you to monitor your vital signs. If you have any problems, the bionoid will alert the Medical Service, and they'll be there in a heartbeat to assist. The only complications we've had so far are people getting secondary infections during the transition. The virus shuts down the immune system while it's doing its job, and that gives microbes a chance to carry out shenanigans."

The Colonist laughed suddenly. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that word before."

"My wife has a deep vocabulary, and she taught me Faey," he said dryly, elbowing Jyslin.

"I had to properly educate you in a real language, not those guttural grunts and growls you call English," she replied playfully. "And which language are we speaking now? That proves the superiority of the Faey language," she added with a grin.

"I can change that," he warned.

"You'd better not," she retorted, and the exchange made the Colonist grin.

"We heard that you've finished the transition, Duchess. What's it like?" the Colonist asked.

"I don't feel all that much different," she replied. "But then again, I was already a telepath before it happened. I do find commune to be…well, it's much more pure than regular telepathy," she said, struggling a bit to find the words. "I think once you do it for the first time, you'll understand what I mean."

"You've learned it already?"

"Communing is the simplest thing in the world," she replied. "After you do it the first time, you wonder why you haven't been able to do it your whole life."

"It's an instinctive ability," Jason explained. "It's part of the way Generations were genetically engineered. It's a programmed instinct."

"Huh. It sounds much more ominous when you use those words…genetically engineered, programmed."

"It may have started out that way, but now it's just _us_," he told him with a calm smile. "I was born this way, I don't know what it's like to be anything different. To me, it's _natural_. And I hope that soon, you'll feel it's _natural_ too."

"I do hope so," he said with an earnest smile. "Is telepathy hard?"

"Not at all," Jyslin told him reassuringly. "It's relatively easy to learn, but it does take a lot of work to master. That's why we're letting people decide just how much training they want in telepathy once they learn the basics. The basic abilities are easy to learn, but the advanced techniques are difficult to master."

"I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping my empath training will give me a head start."

"I'm honestly not sure," Jason told him. He wasn't surprised that the Colonist was an empath, they weren't uncommon among the race. Colonists in general were widely known for the prevalence of psionic ability among them, with fully half the race having either telepathic or empathic ability. Yet, they didn't allow that to create elitism in their society. Magran was the Grand Master, and he didn't have either ability. "Maybe you could talk to some Colonists that are both, they'll surely be able to tell you a lot more than I can."

"That's a good idea. I know someone that's both, I think I'll give him a call."

Kreel wandered over to them after Jason talked to a few more people. _[We need to send someone out for some ale. This would be more fun with a tankard.]_

_ [I don't think I will ever get used to that,]_ Jyslin noted, giving him a sly look.

_[Believe me, I'm still in the incredulous phase myself,]_ he grinned. _[At least now I can say that all my visits over here finally paid off with something worthwhile…getting diseased by my best friend. Now I'll live my life with this crushing illness,]_ he communed mockingly.

_ [You're enjoying this way too much, Kreel,]_ Jason observed coolly.

_[Maybe a little bit,]_ he replied shamelessly. _[And you just wait til I master TK. I've never forgiven you for that time you dunked me in the ocean. I will get my revenge!]_

_[You can try,]_ he replied, his thought carrying an undertone of dismissal that made Jyslin crack up.

They stayed for about an hour longer, then Aya almost sighed in relief when they boarded a dropship and returned home. Enva was sitting out on the deck when they got home, reading from a handpanel that had her native language on it, no doubt a report from Homeworld forwarded to her by her staff. Maya was sitting at the table with her—the two were good friends—and Vell was in the act of joining them, sitting down at the table. "You two taking a break?" Jason asked.

"With most of the girls at home, they don't need me to watch the babies," she replied, giving him a warm smile and offering her hand to him as he approached. He took it, then leaned down and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down next to Enva. "How did it go?"

"I think it went well," he replied as Kreel came out of the house and moved to join them. "The people were in a better mood than I expected, and I didn't sense much anxiety in the crowd. It was almost…weird," he fretted. "I thought people would be much more worried about this."

"Speaking as one of those people, Jason, I wasn't worried at all when I found out that it was a risk-free transition," Enva told them. "I'm rather eager to learn how to use telekinesis. It's like I've been granted superpowers."

"That about sums it up. Who _wouldn't_ want to have TK, especially when you've seen what it can do first hand?" Kreel agreed as he sat down. "And why are we talking? Everyone here is a Generation. I can feel it."

"Because some of us have old habits that die hard," Vell said. "We knew Jason from when he was actively hiding his talent from the Trillanes, so it's custom for us to speak aloud. Besides, most of the children we care for haven't expressed, so speaking is an ingrained habit in our house."

Miaari stalked up to the table and came to a stop beside him. "It will take me years to get used to this," she said wryly as she looked around the table.

"I know, right?" Jason agreed. "What's up, Mee?"

"I thought Kimdori couldn't catch the virus," Enva said, looking up at her. "But I can sense you."

"That's because there's a secret we didn't tell most of the population," Jason replied. "The Generations are tied to the Kimdori in ways that are hard to explain. We can sense them and they can sense us. It's why they call us _cousins_."

Enva gave Miaari a long look. "There has to be Kimdori DNA involved somewhere in the Generations," she stated.

"Clever," Miaari smiled. "I knew you were formidable, Enva. That is correct," she admitted. "You are cousins because there is some of _us_ within you," she declared. "Kimdori DNA was needed to make the original retrovirus that created the first Generations. A side effect of that fact is that you have the same sense of presence to us as we do to each other. Your ability to sense other Generations is derived from a _Kimdori_ ability, our ability to sense our own, no matter what shape they may hold."

"I'm surprised you'd admit that," Kreel said seriously.

"We will not tell you _everything_, but that is something that you need to know. If only because we can't hide it from you," she admitted boldly.

"Don't dwell on it, she won't tell _me_ everything either," Jason said, which made Enva chuckle softly.

"We are a race of secrets, cousin," she said teasingly. "Denmother wishes to speak to us," she added.

"Here lately, that's always bad news," he sighed, getting back up.

Miaari sent Jason up to his home office alone, sitting at the table and engaging in the conversation, and a flat hologram of Zaa appeared over the desk after he put the room into secure mode and sat down. "I'm going to start calling you the harbinger of doom, Denmother," he told her.

"Not today," she replied. "Dahnai has decided to take your path, cousin. She's realized that the virus cannot be stopped, so she's implementing controlled introduction of the virus into every Imperium holding to expedite the transition and allow the virus to die off before it mutates into something deadly. She's also offering the opportunity to those Faey who live in the Collective. She has Sk'Vrae's blessing to do so," she informed him.. "The good news is that the Karis version of the virus looks to have been completely contained. There are no cases of infection in non-Terran and Faey on Terra or Draconis, and no new cases on Grimjar or Kirri'arr. It would have shown up by now, so that means that it was contained. We need only to arrange the purging of the virus, and that threat is neutralized."

"Purge how?"

"Virtually nothing biological can survive extremely high temperatures, cousin," she said. "The Grimja have already purged the containment area where they held Kreel. It was designed with an incineration feature that immolates the room with fire, reaching up to two thousand shuki. Much to their chagrin, I suspect," she noted lightly. "They purged the room _before_ they found out what the virus does. They do have a couple of samples of the atmosphere of the room before it was purged, which my children are going to replace with fakes. Kirri'arr may be more problematic, because the only place the virus could conceivably be is Krirara's house. To purge the virus, her house will have to, ah, meet with an unfortunate accident," she said delicately.

He had to laugh. "If she finds out, she will _skin_ you," Jason warned. "She's lived in that house for nearly forty years!"

"At my age, cousin, danger is an exciting deviation from routine," she said with a slightly cheeky edge, which made him laugh harder. "Since we obviously can't immolate the Imperial Palace, we will instead be ensuring that the hard shields trapping the virus inside stay up until the virus dies on its own. So, in about forty days, cousin, there will be no chance that the virus spreads off Karis."

"Thank God," Jason breathed in relief. "Have you made arrangements to make sure the Kirri can't secure samples of the virus?"

She nodded. "Those operations are already under way. If they succeed, the samples will be switched with fakes and they will never know the difference."

He sighed forcefully and slumped back in his chair. "Finally, some good news," he said. "I was staring to hate you again, cousin."

She had to laugh. "I'll try to bring only good news for the next few days," she smiled. "How do things fare on Karis? Handmaiden has reported that things are going smoothly. Are they?"

"A lot smoother than I expected," he answered. "The people aren't panicking, thank God, and some of them seem almost excited at the idea of it. Did Mee tell you how many opted in?"

"Very nearly the entire population."

He nodded. "That shocked me. I thought a good quarter minimum would opt out."

"Handmaiden mentioned that the Parri are immune to the virus?"

"Yeah, go figure," he chuckled. "It doesn't affect them. So it seems that the Kimdori aren't the only species on Karis that are immune to it."

"That is highly curious," she mused. "The virus adapts itself to any biology with a sufficiently evolved DNA helix to support the changes the virus makes. The Parri must be evolved enough."

"They are, but the virus doesn't work on them. Why, we don't know, but it doesn't. Songa is going to study it after the crisis is over as part of our preparations to make sure this never happens again. She thinks we may be able to come up with a vaccine that blocks any future retrovirus from affecting people based on the Parri's immunity."

"That would be prudent," she nodded. "A future retrovirus may not be quite so…convenient."

"You mean engineered to be perfect for what it was designed to do," he said darkly. "What are we going to do about it, Denmother?"

"Oh, there is _much_ we will do about it, cousin," she said in an icy tone. "But we cannot move until the crisis is over. The Imperium _needs_ the Medical Service right now. When the virus has died off and things have settled down, we will have our opportunity. Until then, we observe, we plan, and we wait."

"Let's both hope we don't have to wait very long."

"Patience, cousin. Patience."

"Easy for you to say, you're like twenty thousand years old," he accused, which made her smile wolfishly.

After going over a few minor points, they ended the conference and Jason returned to the deck. Aria was there with Rann and Shya, and the girls were playing on the deck nearby. "Hey guys," he called, putting his arm around Aria, who was standing behind Maya's chair. Aria didn't like to sit any more than necessary. "Hey little treasure. Off to practice?"

"Now that I'm not quarantined anymore, yeah," she replied. "I swear, Dad, I think I was going nuts being stuck in the house."

"Tell me about it," he said in a drawl that made Maya and Vell laugh.

"I'm gonna head down to the practice field with a couple of teammates and we're gonna work on passing. Though the season's been postponed until after this is over."

"Did they opt in, or did they already catch it?"

"Already caught it, most of the kids in my school did," she replied. "I don't think they gave us the choice to opt in, that choice was given to our parents."

"Minors don't make very good life choices," Jason said dryly. Aria elbowed him.

"How do you like it so far, Aria?" Enva asked.

"I love it! I always felt a little out of the loop around here, I mean, all Dad's kids are Generations except me. And now I'm not the odd kid out," she smiled, patting Jason's hand, which was on her shoulder. "It's like I've become part of the family in the last way I could, like I belong now."

"You always belonged, silly girl," he chided.

"Not really. I know there are things you couldn't tell me that you've told Rann and the others, because of the secrets you have to keep as a Generation. And I was okay with that, because you never let me feel like I was being left out," she smiled over at him. "But now you don't have to do that. You don't have to treat me differently because there are things you couldn't tell me, things I couldn't understand. But not anymore. We're all family now, and it feels that way out there, almost everywhere I go. I feel closer to my friends at school now, because we have something that connects us. I may be a Dreamer and my friends are Faey, but now we're all _Generations_. I look at them, and I _know _we're a part of something bigger. It's a common tie that binds us together," she said. "And I think that's pretty cool. We can all be different, but still have something in common that makes us all one big giant family. All the other Generations, they _are_ like my cousins now," she proclaimed.

"That's something I've been feeling too," Vell said. "I look at you, and I can feel it, feel that we are kindred spirits. It makes me want to treat people I've never met like more than strangers."

"I think that may be a common thing right now," Kreel said. "I noticed it when we were out. Everyone's treating everyone like a friend, not just some guy on the street. And as a Grimja, I think it's just right," he grinned. "That's the way we Grimja treat each other, and I like seeing it in others."

"How are you going to handle work, Kreel?" Maya asked. "I mean, everyone there must know you're a Generation. Is that going to cause problems for you?"

"Nah, you don't know Grimja very well. We're very laid back," he replied. "The Congress won't care, the people won't care. I'd worry more about Enva than me."

"You don't know the Sha'i-ree, Kreel," she chuckled. "As long as I do my job and everything runs smoothly, nobody is going to care."

"There is one thing I'm really looking forward to learning about," Aria said, then she took on an expression of intense concentration. On the table, Enva's handpanel started to skitter a little bit, then it moved about two tikra across the surface. "That!" she said with an explosive release of breath. Almost immediately, her nose began to bleed."

"You figured that out already? Awesome, Ari!" Shya said happily.

"Yeah, Zach was giving Dara some lessons this morning, and he let me sit in," she said modestly, putting a finger on her nose to stem the flow. "I can't make it happen every time. But I'm still getting nosebleeds when I try to do it.."

"That's common," Jason told her. "But still, well done, my little treasure. That was impressive."

"A few more and you'll have enough to for two teams for TK-ball," Rann said.

"What's that?" Kreel asked.

"It's a game we made up when we were younger to practice TK," he replied. "It's kinda like Terran volleyball. The objective of the game is to make the ball hit a target on the other team's side of the field, but we don't use a net. The net got in the way too much," he laughed. "We'd do three people on a side. The catcher caught the ball when it came from the other side, he defended the target like a Terran soccer goalie. He then passed it to the setter, then the finisher would try to get the ball past the other team's catcher and hit the target. Each of us had to stand in a certain spot on the court, we weren't allowed to move around to force us to learn how to affect objects far away from us. And you couldn't try to TK the ball if it was on the other side of the court. It really helped us out, made us learn control. And since it was a game, it was fun."

"Sounds like a fun game, squirt," Aria said, "you gotta teach it to me. When my friends on the bachi team learn how to do TK, we'll play it to practice."

"It's not that hard. We tried to make up different rules for it, but it got too complicated," Rann laughed.

"It did do wonders for them," Jason chuckled. "Once they made a game out of practicing, they stopped complaining about having to practice."

He chatted with them for a little while longer, then decided to take a short walk on the beach. He had to admit, things weren't nearly as bad as he feared they would be. The people seemed to be embracing the idea of becoming Generations, and even those who were converted against their will seemed content about it. But what worried him more was what was going on over in the Imperium. Aria's dream was still in the back of his mind as he considered what Dahnai was going to do with all those Generations, and how being changed was going to change the Faey as a society. It had changed the way things were working on Karis, and he had the feeling that it would in the Imperium as well.

Then there was the Medical Service. Zaa wanted to hold off until the virus was gone before they went after them, and he could see her position and he'd go with it. But every day they waited would just make his ultimate retribution that much more savage. If they were right in their suspicions, Banlia had directed the Medical Service to make a new retrovirus, and then she unleashed it upon the Imperium. If they hadn't done such a great job engineering it, she may have killed _millions_ of Faey. And on top of that, it put the power of the Generations in the hands of people who wouldn't respect that power, would misuse it, and the evil they did would be laid at Jason's feet because he was the one ultimately responsible. And that was a crime that Jason could not ignore.

There would be a reckoning with Banlia and the Medical Service, and it was going to be a reckoning they were never going to forget.


End file.
